Ball-player&#39;s glove.



J. S. CAMERON.

BALL PLAYERS GLOVE.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 18,1912.

1,072,697, Patented Sept. 9, 1913.

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JOHN S. CAMERON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIG-NOR T0 WALTER T. STALL AND CHARLES H. DEAN, COPARTNERS DOING BUSINESS ASSTALL & DEAN MANUFAC- TURING COMPANY, AT BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

BALL-PLAYERS GLOVE. p

v Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 9,1913.

Application iled July 18,1912.k Serial No. 710,139.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that IJo:i-1NV S. CAMERON, a citizen ofthe United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ball- Players Gloves, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates toV gloves or mitts used by ball players to protect the hand in catching a ball, and has for its object to provide such a glove with means for assistingY the fingers of ythe hand, on which the glove is worn, to grasp the ball more quickly after the latter strikes the palm of the hand, `and also forprotecting the fingers to some extent from injury when struck by the ball.

I/Vith these objectsin view, the invention consists, broadly, in so incorporating weights in the ngers of the glove that they occupy locations at the front and tips of the fingers of the' hand on which the glove is worn; and more specifically, in the particular manner in which the weights are built into the glove.

In the accompanying drawings wherein I have drawn the preferredI embodiment of my invention,-Figure 1 represents a front view of the glove, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of one of the lingers of the glove on line 22 of Fig. 1, 3 is a perspective view of one of the weights removed from the glove.

Like reference characters representA theV same parts in all the views.

The glove in which the present invention is embodied may be of any character, and in the embodiment here shown is digitated to provide distinct pockets for the digits of the players hand. These digital divisions which for convenience I will term the fingers of the glove are designated by the letter a, and the part which extends over the palm of the wearers hand is designated Z7. In certain of the lingers, it may be one or more, I provide a weight or weights c indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and more fully shown in Fig. 2.

In the embodiment of the invention here illustrated the weights are applied in all five fingers of the glove, although the essence of the invention would not be altered if they were omitted from. some. The manner kand mode of building the weights inV the glove isrshown in Fig. 2, which although specifically representing the middle finger is also a representation of all the ngers in which the weights are incorporated. The glove has an inner flexible covering or lining d which comes next to the skin of the wearers hand and is made co-nveniently of leather, and an outer flexible covering c also preferably made of leather. These coverings are cut and sewn together in the manner usual with gloves of this character. A padding 7 is secured to the lining at the front of the glove. This Vpad and the outer covering extend over the palm and lingers of the glove. The weight c is secured between the padding and outer cover at the tip end of the finger.

The mode of attaching the weight is a feature of this invention and is as follows:

The weight, which is preferably of metal, is inclosed in a sort of sack made of al strip of material g which is doubled over the weight and the parts of which are stitched together around the edges of the latter.

This sack, which is conveniently of leather,

is sewed to the lining and padding, a part of the stitching for this purpose being shown at 7b. One end of the piece from which the sack is made extends along the finger beyond the weight as shown at g to makethe attachment of the weight additionally secure. The mode of attachment of one weight above described is followed in case of all weights.

One of the weights is shown in detail in Fig. 3. It is concave on the side c which is faced toward the back of the glove, in order that it may fit the wearers finger, and on the front side is convex to enable it to lie smoothly in the outer covering which is ordinarily convex. The substance of which the weight is made'is preferably lead, whereby the weights may be sufficiently heavy without being too bulky. l

The effect of the weights is to give the player greater speed in grasping the ball,

thus reducing the chance of the ball bound- Those parts palm portion to the ends of the wearers fingers and to which the weights are secured are connectors between the ball-receivingportion and the weights, and draw the weights forwardly and inwardly when the ball-receiving portion is thus suddenly pushed backward. The inertia and momentum of the weights as moved cause force to be applied to the players fingers through the backs of the finger pockets at their tips, assisting the fingers to close quickly around the ball. given to the players fingers in this manner is enough to save the instant of time in which the ball might bound out lof his grasp, and enable him to hold the ball when otherwise he would have dropped it.

Another purpose which the weights serve is to protect the fingers of the wearer against harm when the ball strikes the finger tips instead of the palm. The weights being formed as hereinbefore described lie somewhat over the tips of the fingers and form a metallic armor, which in the case of a ball striking the finger tips takes the first shock of the impact and softens the blow.

Where I have used the terms front l and back or rear I have intended them to be used in the same sense in which they are` ordinarily used in reference to a persons hand, the front of the hand or iingers being the palm side, and the back being, of course, lthe opposite side.

I desire further to state that although I have described my invention as applied to a digitated glove, yet I do not thereby intend to limit the invention, or to imply that the In many instances the impetusscope of the invention is not sufficiently broad to cover a mitt without digits, but

provided with a weight or weights at locations near the positions occupied by the finger tips of the wearer. 'I have used the words hand protector in certain of the appended claims toA signify any article in the nature-of a glove, whether having finger divisions or not, which serves the purpose of a glove or mitt in softening the impact of a ball and protecting the players hand.

I claim:

l. A ball-players hand protector having a portionvarranged to receive the impact of a flying ball, finger pockets connected to said portion, and metallic, pieces of appreciable weight secured within the ends of certain of such pockets.

`2. A ball-players hand protector having finger pockets, and metallic pieces of appreciable 'weight secured withinthe ends of certain of such pockets only at the front thereof said pieces being concave on the rear sides to fit the tips of the wearers fingers.

3. A ball-players hand protector comprising a hand covering and a lining therefor, a leather saclr secured to the lining, and a weight inclosed in said sack, the locationof the sack being such that the weight lies near the tip of a finger on the hand on which the glove is worn. s

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN S. CAMERON.

TWitnesses:

F. R. RoULs'roNE,

P. WV. PEZZETTL Copies of this patent may be obtained tor ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C." 

